New WI DNR GO WILD – Up and running online

The long awaited “Go Wild” system is running online. I logged in and did my patron’s license at about 3:30am this morning.
Couple of things I noticed

Not as much detail when you log in as before on the first couple pages

No link to zone maps in the turkey application

All the applications can now be changed if you update them before the deadline

If you select the patrons, you fill in the applications as you check out.

couple of the specialty licenses weren’t listed as options – like Guide

Over-all, pretty easy to use, but it is different and many will gripe…..

Couple more things –

Boat / ATV renewal is not up yet.

Student / Safety Education wasn’t complete for me – Trapping was populated, but my Hunter’s Ed cert # wasn’t there. Liked accessing that for providing HSC# for out of state requirements

I applaud the DNRs in both MN and WI for getting teched up and getting more services online. Yes it takes time to get things rolling. Yes not everything can be there on day 1. Yes it’s a change from buying a paper license at the hardware store. Which, BTW, had PLENTY of failure points.

I’m looking forward to a day when I don’t need a wallet full of slips of useless paper. I should be able to present 1 bar code to any CO and from that, he/she should be able to pull up EVERYTHING needed to see my licenses and permits.

Grouse

The only real issue I see with it is that any item you do need to print off, like a carcass tag (only required if you aren’t next to the animal) prints on regular paper. The DNR suggests laminating it or keeping it in a ziploc bag. If they are still going to require you to print tags for deer, turkey, sturgeon, etc. they should have kept the green paper that was waterproof.

Beat me to it ,I just did my fishing license and it knew I was 65 ,only let me pick old guy license! real smooth and I like it.

Stan

Definitely has bugs. I am unable to purchase non-resident family fishing.
I spoke to them and they are working on it.

How did they come up with that name? I think of Minnesota hockey when I see ‘Go Wild’.

Should be a blast filling out your paper tag in the rain or sleet or snow after you kill a deer. Cant wait

…and they’ll be getting rid of carcass tags soon too. they’re just another anachronism like the bag tags were, as neither of them had an impact on poaching.

buy license online + store license on phone + register kills online = happy me.

I just checked with Gander and confirmed they would be using printer paper too so no more tough material for licenses. I will need to find out how to laminate.

suzuki wrote:

I just checked with Gander and confirmed they would be using printer paper too so no more tough material for licenses. I will need to find out how to laminate.

It’ll be a treat to show a warden a license on a rainy day that has been printed from an ink jet printer. “Really. It used to be a license…”

I’m sure that if they’re planning plain paper boat tags that will work SOOOOOOOOO well too – assuming that they get the system fixed so boat that registrations can be renewed.

Another sad case of the public paying the price for the incompetence of political appointees.

I just received my boat registration renewal papers in the mail yesterday it expires at the end of the month. I was wondering how I was going to get it done. So far I don’t care for the website all that much but I’m sure I’ll get use to it.

I’m sure that if they’re planning plain paper boat tags that will work SOOOOOOOOO well too

consider: do we need boat tags?
since the C.O. can put your license number in his tablet and know your renewal status immediately, what’s the point of a boat tag? get rid of the ugly color squares on our boats!

Michael C. Winther wrote:

consider: do we need boat tags?
since the C.O. can put your license number in his tablet and know your renewal status immediately, what’s the point of a boat tag? get rid of the ugly color squares on our boats!

From what you have responded with so far too this thread, you sound like a person that wants to be off the grid and has something to hide?

Michael C. Winther wrote:

and they’ll be getting rid of carcass tags soon too. they’re just another anachronism like the bag tags were, as neither of them had an impact on poaching.

That is a wrong statement. Talk to a CO individually. They will have another view.

no, i’m not an-off-the-grid type, i just recognize that technology is changing how things work.
can anyone make the case that the license renewal stickers (the square year one) are necessary when a C.O. with a tablet and binoculars can check your status online immediately by running your numbers? same as annual car license stickers…why have them anymore? these are leftovers from pre-information age methods.
I like the way my Skeeter looks and paid for custom license letters to match it…and then have to stick an obnoxious orange square on it. get rid of them!

So you would rather a CO have to take the time to look up every boat license on a computer when they could just look at a small colored sticker to get the same information?
DT

Michael C. Winther wrote:

I’m sure that if they’re planning plain paper boat tags that will work SOOOOOOOOO well too

consider: do we need boat tags?
since the C.O. can put your license number in his tablet and know your renewal status immediately, what’s the point of a boat tag? get rid of the ugly color squares on our boats!

So if this is the case the CO will know from you boat number, that you have fishing, hunting license and all the stamps. IMHO That would be great. In the last 14 months I have been check by the local CO 7 times. After awhile it gets tiring!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

bigpike wrote:

Should be a blast filling out your paper tag in the rain or sleet or snow after you kill a deer. Cant wait [/quote

since you were probably in love with your backtag holder, put your new paper tag in there and wreck your water proof coat by punching holes in it

I’m thinking 4 pieces of packing tape, two for the front and two for the back then trim to fit, redneck version of laminating

Bassn Dan wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>suzuki wrote:</div>
I just checked with Gander and confirmed they would be using printer paper too so no more tough material for licenses. I will need to find out how to laminate.

It’ll be a treat to show a warden a license on a rainy day that has been printed from an ink jet printer. “Really. It used to be a license…”

I’m sure that if they’re planning plain paper boat tags that will work SOOOOOOOOO well too – assuming that they get the system fixed so boat that registrations can be renewed.

Another sad case of the public paying the price for the incompetence of political appointees.

I’m actually applauding the progress that is being made and from what I can tell, this should be a money and time saver for everyone. It does require a touch more personal responsibility, which I am also ok with.

So you would rather a CO have to take the time to look up every boat license on a computer when they could just look at a small colored sticker to get the same information?

i simply acknowledge the reality that there are no C.O.’s driving around looking at boats to see if they all have the year sticker up-to-date. too few C.O.’s, too many boats, and too minor of an issue for special enforcement. they might check it as a secondary part of other enforcement such as over-limits or fishing licenses. so, yes, looking it up – on the few occasions that’s what they’re interested in – makes more sense to me than printing all those stickers.

So if this is the case the CO will know from you boat number, that you have fishing, hunting license and all the stamps. IMHO That would be great. In the last 14 months I have been check by the local CO 7 times. After awhile it get trying!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

exactly.
they specifically point out in the GoWild info that your DNR license status will be available to a C.O. if you present your driver’s license – i assume by either entering your number or scanning the bar code on your license into their tablet. if they can look up my fishing license via my driver’s license, that same database can absolutely provide it off my boat license because they’re all tied to the same DNR customer number. run my number, see i’m good, no need to waste their time or mine.

imagine a C.O. doing enforcement on a busy lake on a holiday weekend. they can’t possibly check everyone in person…but if they enter a boat license from afar and see that the owner doesn’t come up with a current fishing license?

imagine a C.O. doing enforcement on a busy lake on a holiday weekend. they can’t possibly check everyone in person…but if they enter a boat license from afar and see that the owner doesn’t come up with a current fishing license?

and that is exactly what the orange square sticker does for them… cruising along, seen from 100 yards, no need to suspect that boat… the one next to it with the green sticker… *BANG* check that guy !

All bashing a side. I stopped at Mills Fleet Farm and purchased the wife and husband fishing license and great lakes stamps with no problems. They lady there said no reason to carry printed licenses. Everything is on your drivers license. Dnr is just going to look you up with your DL #. So just carry your DL with you at all times.

Imagine the belly aching if instead they raised the costs of liscenses to keep the same old costlier system.

They make waterproof paper, some people probably have access to laminators, others have already mentioned the redneck laminator that is clear packing tape. There are many ways to make your paper tag more durable, just takes a little more effort than whining does.

Read the text of all the changes, you don’t have to present paper copies of your liscense to a warden anymore, just your DL. You also do not have to put the kill tag on a deer until it’s out of the field so long as you are present with the deer until the tag is affixed.

I’ve read on other hunting sites how the removal of deer hunting back tags is going to cause skyrocketing poaching cases, seriously!? You really think a tag is the only thing keeping a criminal from breaking the law. How is it the other 40 whatever states that haven’t had them for years (decades) not had this problem? The most ironic part of that argument is that it’s the exact same logic the gun control lobby uses as rationale for more restrictive laws, and in many cases the same people using it to defend backtags argue it’s faulty logic to gun control.

I can’t apply for my boat registration until March 29th when the DNR knows they are all expire March 31st???? What a bunch of dumbasses. They should change their name to CDNR. Can’t do nothing right.

Well here’s the scoop from Fountain City WI. Kwik Trip store is down yesterday until tomorrow when they said they would call @ 10 am. to the DNR office and find out what the problem is.

Went to Winona Fleet Farm today. Waited 20 minutes in line and finally one of the employees came over and said you might as well leave and try somewhere else. They couldn’t get through on the phone lines and the system was giving them troubles. Saturday night it took one person 2 hours to get the license they wanted. I left.

I’m at home after that and I’m on the Go Wild site. Took me 15 minutes to get my Patron’s License. Pretty easy. No explanation of what I need to print off? I don’t know if we get a park sticker? I don’t know if I get doe tags for gun or archery in Trempeleau county? I know I have a licence and my applications because it tell me that. I guess I hunt and fish without any ID besides a drives license? $178 and nothing for paper work?

I’m good to keep a sturgeon or 2 also. I think?

This should be a CF come tomorrow at 10 am for left over turkey permits. Boy these guys have there crap together.

I purchased my Hunt/Fish combo on the new website Saturday the 19th. The system ran perfectly smooth and was easy to operate as far as buying the licenses and finding the right stuff for me. A few things I noticed though I’ll discuss later…
Sunday I attempted to purchase my wife’s fishing license, she (and I) is a new WI resident, but has purchased WI Licenses in some form before. Well in buying her license and after clarifying she is a resident, the only fishing license options she has is first time buyer, and spouse. Both are cheap but technically she has held a wI fishing license before as a non-resident so first time buyer doesn’t seem right. Then spousal asks for the primary customer ID number and so I entered my ID and it wouldn’t accept it. So going to be making the call to the help line on that one.

I liked the website, it was easy to navigate and use. Simple purchase procedure when you know what you want. What I don’t like however is the lack of clarification on what you have to print and not print, it just feels odd to purchase several licenses and tags, and get no paper copy. Or in the case of deer tags, no message during the purchase that says “print tags now” or something like that to confirm you purchased them.(once you purchase them, I do like the fact its easy to reprint a copy of lost licenses) I also am confused how antlerless tags/bonus tags will work. I did not have an option anywhere to receive the free antlerless tag for a Farmland county which I’m in nor does it seem to have an option to purchase them.

Yep. Its all messed up this morning. Can’t get turkey permits on line. When I tried its shut down. Good move!

I still cant buy a non-res family license. Awesome job Wis DNR…….

For all you stoneagers (sort of like teenagers only different) who are worried about laminating, etc., here’s a tip: 1) Save the license as a PDF document. 2) Open a dropbox account. 3) Save the PDF there. 4) Download the dropbox app on your phone. 5) Make the document a favorite and you won’t even need a network connection to access it. If you own an iphone, you can save the license to your ibooks app and always have access to it there. This way if your piece of paper gets ruined, you can show the “backup” license to the CO on your phone.

Before you tell me that you can’t be troubled to take your phone out during a downpour, let me remind you that you’ve never actually had your license checked during a downpour. If you do in the future, you can work together with the CO to make sure your phone stays dry (consider using the paper map you still carry to construct a makeshift shelter). No cell service where you fish? No problem — see the dropbox tip above (“no network” means no cell or wi-fi signal). You don’t want your wife or employer to call you while you’re fishing? Use airplane mode to disable the cell service on your phone. Finally, if none of these solutions make you happy – because you choose not to own a smart phone; because you are worried about a government employee looking at your phone; or because you were just plain happier 30 years ago – drive to nearest FedEx Office (you may remember it as Kinko’s; if you can handle it, run a Google search to find the nearest location) and get your license printed in whatever fancy-schmancy way you’d like. I (and apparently the DNR, too) will take the ease and efficiency of modern technology. I won’t be offended if you choose to pay extra for a laminated license.

P.S. I’ve been carrying paper licenses printed at home for years now because that’s what you get when you buy online. No problems whatsoever.